Plaschke: Aday Mara's Michigan national title exposes UCLA coach Mick Cronin's failure
After UCLA coach Mick Cronin failed to figure out how to feature center Aday Mara, he transferred to Michigan and won a national championship.
Aday Mara, center, was often relegated to the bench at UCLA, where Mick Cronin struggled to feature him. (Jayne Kamin-Oncea / Getty Images) Was that really Aday Mara ? It was the most maddening part of March.
It was a Cinderella story that smelled like rotting pumpkin. It was a big dance over the sensibilities of everything that is UCLA . Seriously, was that really Aday Mara ?
Aday Mara holds a Spanish flag and a piece of the net he cut while celebrating Michigan's national title win Monday in Indianapolis. (AJ Mast / Associated Press) The biggest player on the giant national champion Michigan basketball team Monday night looked familiar, yet strange. Familiar, because he once played for the Bruins.
Strange, because he wasn’t buried on the bench. Meet Mick Cronin’s nightmare, a 7-foot-3 indictment of his embattled program, a monumental mistake that has spent three weeks eating at the heart of even the most dedicated Bruin loyalists. In Michigan’s overpowering run in this tournament, Mara was everywhere.
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